Students experience chess power!

ACG Tauranga played host to the Tauranga Zone Chess Power Interschools Chess Tournament on Friday.

Chess Power is an organisation that supports kids to learn Chess at the right level for them. The Interschool events are an opportunity for students new to Chess to get involved and for those who have played before to practise their skills.

Pupils came from three schools in Tauranga to take part in the tournament, which offered Primary, Intermediate and Open Secondary divisions as well as Rookies division for novices.

Eight of our students took part in the tournament: Ethan Peng – Year 4; Samuel Moriarty, Elliot Bedford and Libby Meredith – Year 5; Lloyd Kim, Owain Lines and Luke Domett – Year 6; Dom Williams – Year 8; and Sanghoon Kim – Year 9.

The format was 7-round Swiss, which saw every student playing seven games, with 15 minutes per player.

Sanghoon came third in the individual competition, while our secondary team was second in the teams event and primary team was third.

The event was coordinated at our end by Year 3 and 4 teacher Dave Hanna, who runs the school Chess Club every Wednesday, which caters for players from a range of abilities.

“It’s a great game because it requires strategy and the students love the competitive nature of it,” he said. “It also helps develop memory, improve concentration and teaches independence and decision-making skills. These skills help kids through the rest of their life. That’s why it’s great to see kids from around Tauranga here at our school getting involved.”

Today our preschool celebrates its very first birthday! The biggest highlight for us has been creating relationships with all of our foundation children and their families. It has been a year of successes.